Brex vs. American Express

Last verified 28 days ago · 15 sources · Updated automatically

Brex and American Express compared across Company facts, Pricing, Card & limits, Rewards & cash back, Spend management, Security & compliance and Platform & integrations — every fact sourced and re-verified from each vendor's public material.

Brex

AI-powered spend platform — corporate charge cards, bill pay, expense management, and banking, with no personal guarantee.

Founded2017

HQ San Francisco, CA

Visit Brex Full profile

American Express

The incumbent business-card issuer — established Membership Rewards and premium perks across a broad charge and credit lineup.

Founded1850

HQ New York, NY

Visit American Express Full profile

Attribute

Brex

American Express

Company facts

Headquarters

San Francisco, CA

New York, NY

Employees

1.1k

70k Amex states 'over 70,000 colleagues' across 110 countries; recorded as the stated floor.

Pricing

Starting Monthly Price (USD)

$0 Essentials plan, free

$0 No-annual-fee business cards (Blue Business Cash, Blue Business Plus) start at $0; fee'd cards run $375 (Business Gold) to $895 (Business Platinum).

Paid Tier Price (USD/user/mo)

$12 Premium plan

—

Card & limits

Card Type

charge card Paid in full, no interest

charge card Business Gold is a charge card with an optional Pay Over Time feature; pay in full each month unless eligible charges are added to a Pay Over Time balance.

Card Network

Mastercard World Elite Mastercard

American Express

No Personal Guarantee

Yes

Amex business cards require a personal guarantee: the applicant is jointly and severally liable with the company for all charges, and applying involves a personal credit check.

Limit Basis

cash balance & revenue

personal credit Underwritten with a personal guarantee and personal credit check; limit reflects the owner's personal credit and the business's profile.

Virtual Cards

Yes

—

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Yes

No foreign transaction fees on 8 of Amex's 11 US business cards (incl. Business Gold & Business Platinum); the two Blue Business cards and the Business Green Rewards Card are the exceptions.

Rewards & cash back

Rewards Model

tiered points Up to 7x points by category

tiered points Membership Rewards: 4X points on the top 2 spend categories each cycle (first $150k/yr), 3X on travel via AmexTravel.com, 1X elsewhere.

Spend management

Receipt Capture & Matching

Yes

Employees match receipts to their Business Card transactions, which are then sent to QuickBooks daily via Connect to QuickBooks (enrollment required).

Approval Workflows & Policies

Yes

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Employee Reimbursements

Yes

—

Bill Pay / AP

Yes

Bill pay / AP via Vendor Pay by BILL (a BILL partner integration); Basic plan free for the first user, paid tiers $15-$99/user/mo.

Security & compliance

SOC 2

SOC 2 Type II

—

SSO (SAML)

Advanced SSO on Premium+

—

SCIM Provisioning

Via Microsoft Entra & Okta

—

Platform & integrations

Accounting / ERP Sync

QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct

Native Connect to QuickBooks integration syncs Business Card transactions and matched receipts to QuickBooks daily (enrollment required).

Public API

Public REST API

—

The verdict

Brex

Best for startups avoiding personal liability

Brex requires no personal guarantee and underwrites limits from cash balance and revenue, not the owner's personal credit. It pairs that with a free Essentials tier ($0), virtual cards, receipt capture, approval workflows, reimbursements, bill pay, accounting sync, SOC 2 Type II, SAML SSO, SCIM, and a public API. No foreign transaction fees apply across the board.

Full profile

American Express

Best for established firms wanting Membership Rewards

American Express suits businesses comfortable with a personal guarantee and personal-credit underwriting. Its Membership Rewards program earns 4X on top categories, 3X on travel, and 1X elsewhere, and 8 of its 11 US business cards (including Business Gold and Platinum) charge no foreign transaction fees. Fee'd cards run $375 to $895, though no-annual-fee options start at $0.

Full profile

Sources · 15 verified references

en.wikipedia.org ir.americanexpress.com americanexpress.com brex.com developer.brex.com

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